The 2024 Grammy Awards are officially behind us, granting Taylor Swift a record-breaking fourth Album of the Year win and finally providing Billie Eilish with a much-deserved win for Barbie‘s “What Was I Made For.”
Following a year — or four — of seemingly near-constant turmoil, it was a fittingly thrilling night. Even as Swift was breaking the record for most Album of the Year wins, she was also sparking rumors of a beef with Celine Dion. Which was still far more preferable to Killer Mike’s arrest, which came mere moments after the rapper won three separate awards. The Grammys are certainly never boring, and 2024 made sure to give its predecessors a run for their money.
Jay-Z certainly turned heads during his acceptance speech for the 2024 Dr. Dre Global Impact Award. While delivering his acceptance speech, Jay-Z highlighted the hard work his predecessors put in to make the award possible, and took time to celebrate the talent that came before him. He also called out the awards for frequently failing to highlight some of music’s most talented stars, and he didn’t hold back.
Jay-Z’s speech at the 2024 Grammy Awards
Jay-Z stepped onto the stage at the 2024 Grammys with his eldest daughter, Blue Ivy, at his side. He took the time, during his speech, to carefully acknowledge the range of talent that came before, much of which paved the way for his 2024 victory.
After highlighting friends, mentors, and icons in the crowd, along with Dr. Dre himself, Jay-Z took a moment to discuss past failings of the Grammys. After taking note of Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff’s boycott of the 1989 Grammys after learning that their victory wouldn’t be televised, Jay-Z also shouted out another boycott — this time his own. Following in Smith and Jeff’s example, he too boycotted the Grammys in 1998, in response to a DMX snub that year.
Pointing out that all these protests really want is for the Grammys to “get it right,” Jay-Z pointed out that musical appreciation is subjective, but couldn’t help but point out perhaps the biggest snub of all. He didn’t name names, but Jay-Z was clearly referencing his musical powerhouse of a wife, Beyoncé, when he noted the dichotomy of an artist with “more Grammys than anyone but never won Album of the Year.”
Its true. Somehow, despite securing a full 32 Grammy Awards over the years, Beyoncé has never won Album of the Year. Its also a very valid call-out, and one done with compassion and grace. Jay-Z didn’t pull a Kanye here, he simply pointed out a failing that the awards ceremony can easily rectify in the future, and did it in a way that (hopefully) will urge it to listen.
Jay-Z polished off his speech with a note that, whether it be an awards ceremony or regular life, “you gotta keep showing up until they give you all those accolades you feel you deserve, until they call you chairman, until they call you a genius, until they call you the greatest of all time.”
If that doesn’t secure him G.O.A.T status, I don’t know what will.